28 Weeks Later: EMPIRE
by Seth Rogers
Summary: After the Fall of London, the United States Government has fallen back, taking on the task of mere containment.
1. Welcome to France

He looked out the window, the boy in the red hooded sweatshirt, below him the ocean crashed against the rocks of the english shoreline. The smell of helicopter gasoline and dried blood filled his nostrils. His sister sat just behind him, stroking the back of his head with her fingertips. But he was lost, lost in the thoughts of things that he would never see again. His Mother, his father, his friends, his home, his school, all the things that he used to take forgranted. Before the events of the passed year, Andy Harris was a normal kid, probably not too much like you or me. But now here he was, one of the last remaining survivors of something that humanity came to know and understand as "The Rage Virus". He looked on as the coastline slowly dissapeared into the horizon, he thought of all the times he had shared with everyone he once knew, all the smiles, the laughs, all the things that he never thought he would miss. It was a terrible feeling, for a 12 year old boy to have to feel. But nothing was as terrible as the thought that his parents were gone, and his sister was the only thing he really had left. He didn't fully understand yet, his condition, but the bite mark on the side of his shoulder was throbbing. He looked up at his sister, her hair slowly blowing in the small bit of air that was maing it into the cockpit. She smiled at him, softly nodding her head. He laid his head down into her lap, and slowly, drifted off to sleep.

28 Weeks Later: EMPIRE

Escailes: Outskirts - 7:17 am

Escailes is a small town just on the outer edge of the European Border, where the French Coastline meets the English Channel. For years the town has gotten by with the beach front as one of their main tourist attractions. Although so small, over the years the town has done fairly decent with the summer travellers coming through on vacation. The outter areas of the town were much like the rest of the country side, endless feilds. The passed six months had taken a toll on the town, with the outbreak of the Rage Virus in The United Kingdom, the french government did just the same thing that they always did when in trouble, called in the United States Military. Since then the town had been evacuated as one of the only towns on the coast that would house the soldiers being sent in to keep the countryside free of infection. The military presense in the town was now growing dramatically, looking more like a full blown military installation than the town that some people might have remembered. There were only a few other towns that had been evacuated due to the threat of infection. Wissant, Sangatte and Calais were in the highest threat area, given that the UK border was visible just across the channel.

Since the destruction of The Green Zone, the United States Military had been on a massive evac of their command personel that had been stationed in London. The first reports that came in said that the Army had suffered massive casualties, and the survivors were in some sort of mortal danger as the risk of infect grew and grew as the number of infected sky rocketted. Most of the data that had been collected was lost in the firebombing, and the general population of The Green Zone had been wiped out by the Virus. The Base a Calais had been mobilized to handle the evacuation,leaving Escailes and Sangatte the only two remaining bases that were manned and ready. The two bases had been taking in new soldiers weekly, sending men back to the rear for R/R. The rotation was off now though, with the destruction of District 1, came a whole new list of things that had to be dealt with. But as it did before, the military was ready to just let the infected die out, with no way to get out of the United Kingdom the infected were doomed to roam an abandoned wasteland. In a few months, they would try again, even though most of the countries inhabitants were either dead, or otherwise.

Jason Price was a greenhorn, having only graduated from Basic a few days before, was finding his way across the central courtyard that had been come to be called "The Lions Den". His story was much like alot of america's youth, he had graduated from high school with a lower grade point average than his parents would have liked. Giving him very little option as far as more schooling went, he joined the military thinking that it would give him an easy ride, and although basic had been hell for him, the thought of being stationed in such a peaceful environment was better than he had thought. He was 18 years old, had been a bit of a hellian when he was growing up, but his short time in the military had already changed him more than he could even understand yet. He was one of the smaller soldiers on the base, and all through basic he had gotten hell for it, but He figured they would have sent him into Iraq, Afghanistan, but since the innitial outbreak, most of the militaries central concerns had changed. The courtyard was bussling with activity, basketball, some card games here and there, a heavy burst of laughter from the group of men standing around the television. "Celebrate" by Rare Earth played over a loudspeaker in the background. The commanders center was on the north side of the base, made inside of the old Hotel I' Escale. The outside of the building had been left to grow over with whatever vegitation. As he walked up to the building he shook his head, having pictured the command center being some sort of gigantic building, filled with computers and touch screens. But this was good enough, small time, meant small conflict. As he stepped into the building he set his ruck sack down on the floor next to a small wooden bench and headed for the Leutenant standing in front of the counter.

The Luetenant was looking through a list of new soldiers, newbies came on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which is why he was a little peeved as Jason stepped up to him, it was Monday and it looked like the Luetenant had other things he could have been doing. Lt. Daniel Forrest had joined the military fresh out of college, gone through basic and then to OTS. He had been here almost four months now, and had yet to see any real action. He Thought he could have been doing the world a little better, he was the type that would have been right there fighting in Falluja if he was only born a couple of years earlier. He looked down at the kid now standing at attention in front of him, he shook his head and put the cigarette he had been smoking out against the shiny wooden countertop.  
"Private Jason Price reporting Sir!" he put his hand against his forehead in a salute as the Leutenant scoffed and shook his head.  
"Put your hand down man, we're not that formal around here, lemme see your shit."  
Jason pulled his deployment papers out of his pocket and handed them to Forrest, Daniel looked them over for a moment, rolling his eyes a couple times before signing the sheet at the bottom of the page. He then went to his file he had been holding and marked another mark on the side of it.  
"Private, did they explain to you what it is that we do out here?" he asked.  
"Sir they said it was for re-patriation sir!" Daniel laughed at Price's responce.  
"Nah, we tried that, failed, all of our Command personel are on their way back across the channel now, I guess they caught hell over there." the leutenant had a small bit of regret in his voice, having wished that he could have taken part in the U.K. Campaign. He shook off the feeling and turned to the Private now waiting for his orders.  
"Your assigned to Delta, you report to Seargent Davis."  
"Sir Thank You Sir" Price yelled before quickly grabbing his things up off the ground and headed for the door.  
"And Kid..." Daniel spoke at the last moment. "Don't get excited, welcome to the Big Lazy."  
The kid smirked, the meaning behind the Big Lazy was simple, they had been here for the last four months and not seen anything, other than a few refugees, but no real action other than that. Protocol for dealing with Refugees was simple, stamp them, mark them and send them into Paris. For the passed four months this is all the United States Military did in France. The Big Lazy, came from this fact.

Sgt. Bryan Davis was a veteran, having been through Somalia and the innitial Invasion of Iraq, he was one of the more hardenned men on the base, they had sent so many kids out into France and so few seasoned soldiers. His group of men were standing ready now, the patrol they were to go on was to survey the areas from the coastline back to the town, just as a routine patrol for Refugees and other survivors. As Jason stepped up to Delta tent the Davis spotted him immediately, calling attention to him as he set his stuff down on the ground.  
"Well Well Well, look what they sent us, more Bomb-bait, whats your name son?" the others didn't break formation, Sgt. Davis was a hard-ass, I guess he thought he had to be that way. It was crazy how the contrast between Forrest and Davis was so drastic. Jason straightened up, throwing his hand into a salute once again.  
"Private Jason Price Sir!" the Sgt, smiled, nodding his head.  
"Your just in time, we're about to take ourselves a leasurely walk to the beach, you wanna go to the beach Private!" the question was rhetorical, but you have to answer anyways.  
"Sir Yes Sir!"  
"Well good, gear up and meet us at RDLM in five, the rest of you, lets move!"  
The troop was made up of a group of seven men. Delta was one of the smaller groups in this division, the reason for this wasn't really clear, but never the less it left the Sergeant a little short handed when it came to certain things. When he had seen Action, Davis was used to going into battle with groups ranging from 50-200, entire companies. Which is why when they assigned him to delta squad he was a little more than irked by it. Jason scrambled to get his weapon out of the bag that it was still inside of, yanking it out and loading a clip in, pushing the safety into the "Safe" position. Throwing his bag back into the corner of the room he ran out the door and down the street after the rest of his squad. They were taking a quite leasurely pace, almost strolling through the base. As Jason caught up with his squad one of the men turned around, he was a medium sized guy, sporting a tiny tuft of hair under his chin and thick glasses. PFC. Peyton.  
"Hurry Up Rook!" he shouted.  
"Sorry sir." Price responded as he stepped up to the group.  
"Where'd they get you from kid?" Peyton asked, letting the kid catch his breath.  
"The box labelled, Confused, Young and Reckless." cynical humor, always a good icebreaker. Peyton lets out a chuckle as he taps the shoulder of the man walking just in front of him. A Taller dark skinned man with a hard New York Accent.  
"Hey Bronze, we got Dane Cooke back here." Peyton said with a laugh.  
"Haha Really, new guys always got jokes man, except you though." Bronze replied with a wink in Price's direction.  
"Hey Mother Fucker, I said the next time you do that in front of a new guy Imma shoot you." The three laughed.  
"Hey Tighten up back there!" The Sgt. Shouted from the front of the group. Peyton rolled his eyes and turned to the rookie.  
"Don't mind him man, he's had one too many Latte's this morning, fucking Frenchland..."  
"So, you guys have any idea what happened across the channel?" Price asked, obviously a sort of touchey subject, the two in front of him looked at each other momentarily before Bronze turned back to Price.  
"The last report said complete failure, they had to bomb london, I heard someone say there was nothing left over there but ashes, its crazy, my buddy Nash got sent over...its too bad." He said morosely.  
"So what does that mean?" the rookie asked after a few moments.  
"It means that whatever went on over there doesn't matter anymore, the incident is mostly contained, and if it isn't, I've got a cure for the Rage Virus right here." He tapped the side of his M249.

As they got out of town Jason looked out, the flat countryside reminded him of him, Ohio was where he was from, and where he spend his years growing up. The countryside was the best part of the world he thought, having grown up in a small country town just like Escailes. He breathed in the smell of the early-morning air as the scent of wheat and grass filled his nose. Everything was so quiet since the area had been evacuated, cars abandoned in the road, tractors still sat in center feild, where the farmers had left them sitting where they did the most good. The mood was still, as a cool breeze from the ocean swept across the feilds, sending them into a waving dance as the wind took them. The sounds of footsteps and the soft whistling of the wind was all Jason could hear. The rest of the group was mostly quiet, thats the way they kept it most of the time. Minus a few moments of chit chat here and there, mostly due to the Sgt. He was really big on protocol and discipline, either way, Jason didn't mind. He was thousands of miles away from anyone he knew, and the guys he had gone through basic with had all been sent somewhere else. The mostly trains in groups, but when your the odd man out, you get the shaft, and this is where Jason found himself. Walking through a feild, already starting to feel the on-coming boredom setting in. But he was from a small town either way, so the quiet life really didn't bother him much. Peyton and Bronze on the other hand were from the City, and were the first two that really felt the small town life style get repetative.

"So Where You From Rookie?" Bronze asked, not breaking his watch ahead of him

"I'm from Finley, Ohio." Price replied, watching the abandoned Tractor to the left, a small peice of clothe blowing in the wind to its side.

"So you feel right at home huh." Peyton spoke up. "Out here in the boondocks."

"I guess man..." Price replied as Peyton turned to him.

"I keep saying they send too many of you kids out here, what made you wanna join up?" He asked.

"My parents mostly, they said that I needed to find something to do with my life, see, the way my dad always saw it, he went to college, so he thought it real important that I go. But when I got out of high school no one would give me shit, and I had no fucking money ya know? I join up, they give me a free ride, so here I am." The two looked at him, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads as they turned back to the front of the group.

"Too many of you kids are here for that reason, your lucky that your here, if they would have sent you over to the oil feilds you would be screaming for that plane back to the states, here its like a big vacation, been here four months haven't shot one person." Peyton explained.

"Yeah, its like the cold war again, but instead of Nukes we got this...Rage Virus..." Added Bronze.

"You guys brought in many survivors, their must have been some?" Price asked.

"In the passed few months there have been a few hundred of them, just that we've picked up on these patrols, everytime we find them their always the same way, pretty confused and a little out of their minds, I guess it comes with the territory when your country hits the shitter. But we usually just round them up, stamp em and pack em, send em back to the refugee camps in Paris. And those are even pretty luxurious, you see any of Paris on your way through rook?" Price shook his head in Peyton's direction. "Well you missed out, alotta fine girls out there, all wanting something to do with a man in uniform, its been that way since like what, World War two?" The two laughed as Price shook his head, finding a little humor in it. "The fact of the matter is that there isn't that much to do out here anymore, in the last month we've done nothing but walk up and down the beaches, looking at fish and keeping some of the locals in line. Since we moved them all out they've been coming back on a pretty regular basis, maybe they just dont get the fact that we're on red alert status." Price raised his eyebrow.

"What you mean, Red Alert Status?"

"He means that since the fall of London the united states military has been on high alert, but if the last couple months have been any indication, we wont be seeing too much more action, more than likely this will just clean itself up. Maybe this time we'll get our chance at going in there, I wanna see that wreckage, must be a sight." Bronze pondered the site of Destroyed London a couple hundred miles north. Its burnt buildings painting the morning sky a shade of grey, the smoke from the burning buildings casting shadows down onto the rest of the city. Quite the veiw indeed.

"Yeah, really must be something..." Price couldn't even imagine what it must have been like for all those people, and only now it started to hit him, the reality of the entire situation. All those families, men, women, children, and entire population of people wiped out by a single virus. He found himself reminiscing about the dark ages, about how humanity had handled the plague back then. There was nothing we could do then, and even now, there is very little humanity can do in the face of something so devastating. The thoughts poured into his head like a waterfall, and as he looked around at the baron emptiness of the area, he shook his head. But it was contained, with the Channel between the mainland and the English Border, the complete shut down of air travel. And the Navy watching the channel for boats and small rafts, there wasn't a way for the virus to jump from England to the mainland. Since the small outbreaks in New York and Paris, the United States had learned what had to be done, there was no cure, and for the infected there was only one ultimate end...as sad as it was. Jason shook his head at the thought of heartlessly killing men and women, and maybe children. But all that was over now, now the only project was how rebuild again, but that was a thought that didn't even seem possible now, not after the firebombing, after the second outbreak. The Rage virus was winning...

"What you guys think about all of it?" He asked.

"Its all bullshit man, just like anything is, we're just here to do a job, the way I see it I'm only here until the world finds a new shitstorm to put us in the middle of." Peyton was the pessimistic one. Bronze on the other hand...

"Just here to make some money, I could be getting shot at right now, or blown up by a fucking IED, Im telling you man, those Al Queda bastards are crazy, so Im glad that I'm walking through a feild, instead of a desert."

"What if it did get here? Infection that is..." There was a pause as the three looked back and forth at each other.

"What do you know about Infection Kid?" Bronze asked, resetting his gun from one arm to the other.

"I know it makes you crazy, I know its high contagious..." He paused, thinking of the vague description that they had given him in his briefing.

"Thats all anyone knows, infection takes between ten and twenty seconds, then you've got yourself a nice little fight on your hands, so if it ever did happen...goddamn." He didnt even want to think about it, imagining it was just too much for him.

"But don't worry man, its good, lets just concentrate on getting back to town, we've got a squad game of ball with Bravo, hopefully this time it goes better." Peyton said, looking to Bronze with an evil eye.

"Hey man, you can't pass a ball, thats it." Bronze replied.

"Man shut the fuck up, you just don't got the hands!" teased Peyton.

They were seemed like pretty good friends, and cool people to be around, Price smirked to himself as they walked on. If he had to spend the next couple months in France, at least he had good company. He could have been stuck with some rednecks, or some of those Flashy City boys, driving their Mustang GT's and BMW's. Bronze and Peyton were the closest thing to a normal person that Jason had met in the last few months he had been in training. The rest of the guys he had known had been a little bit too into the Army, they should have been marines but they just couldn't cut it. Jason was comfortable where he was, and even though he hadn't even been there a few hours yet, he already felt like this was going to be alright.

The road led them into a huge parking lot, the main tourist spot of the area, where most of the surfers and swimmers of the community would come to catch some waves. Or maybe for some late-night smash and grab. The rolling feilds met the beach so calmly, the tall grass seemlessly melding into the sand of the beach. The wind coming off the channel was cool, and refreshing to Jason's face as the sweat from the walk had just started to form on his brow. He breathed in the smell of the ocean air, a smell that he hadn't had too many chances to experience, it smelled different, like salt, but somehow clear, soothing. The Sgt. Pointed the first four men in the group to walk down the beach to the west, while he waved for Peyton, Bronze and Price to catch up and move with him to the east.

"Reminds me of a vacation I took one time boss." Peyton said looking out at the ocean.

"Yeah right, form up, lets get this shit done." Davis was no joke, dead serious all the way around.

The patrol went pretty well, the small group of soldiers walked up and down the beach. Jason looked out as the waved crashed into the sand, his footsteps marked in the sand behind him. The four men walked on, the patrol area was a five miles stretch of beach in either direction, it was all the patrolling they could do with such a small group. Alpha and Zulu company did the better part of the patrols, Delta could only do so much on foot. As they walked small conversations picked up, about their home lives, girls back home, shopping malls, music, movies. The Seargent let it go on, he knew how crucial it was for a soldier to get to know the men that he was fighting alongside of. And a little bit of conversation never hurt anything on these long walks. Even Davis wasn't immune to the boredom that set in out here. He was used to fighting terrorists, Insurgents and suicide bombers, and if he had his way he would be doing it right now. In the course of the walk, Price learned somethings about Peyton and Bronze, both from New York, joined up at the same time and gone to the same basic training facility. They had known each other through High School and the only reason they were here was because the United States Army had deemed the two as trouble-makers, because of some things they may or may not have done in basic, this was pretty much like a punishment. The two had been a little forward, and somehow found a way to set up every smoke grenade in the training facility in one place, the barracks. When it happened they thought it was funny, but the repercussions were still wearing on them, but they were making the best of it. But Davis was still a mystery, having not said more than a few words within the entire course of the conversation.

"So what about you sir?" Price asked Timidly.

"What about me?" He replied.

"What landed you here, I'm too fresh, and these guys are apparently fucks ups.." pause for laughter. "So whats your Story?"

There was a long pause, as the three walked down the beach. The others knew the story, they had read the report. Sgt. Davis had been in charge of a squad in Iraq, having been one of the first men to invade Baghdad when it was taken by the United States Military. The report said that he dropped the ball, sent men into a building that had been scheduled to be bombed with multiple others. But the way he told it, he didn't get the message until it was too late. They had sent in one bombardment, that first night, but when the troops had gone in, they had sent in fire support from the east, but there were too many squads on the ground. Fire fights broke out and alot of things got messed up, when the bombs started dropping again Davis and his team were right in the middle. The report said he lost 34 men that day, but saved another 16. For the military, that was too big of a loss for anyone to have had on their hands, in turn for the last few years he had been given the short end of the stick. Been shafted with alot of duties that he would have had some of the lower ranking men in his squad do, cleaning toilets, burning feces, the bullshit that the military seems to leave out of their pamphlets and television commercials. Either way, this was the last thing he had on his shit list, so the only reason he was here really, was to finally put all of that behind him. He had already gone through enough, most of the men he lost that day were his friends, people that he had known since the day he joined up, which was probably the subliminal reason that he was so angry all the time, not angry with the men, angry with himself. He tried to keep them together, but still keep them working towards something.

The sun was getting into the sky now, just beginning to beat down on their heads, but the cool ocean breeze made it all tolerable. The patrol had been going on for a little while now, and from where Price stood it was a nice little warm up to whatever he was going to have to be doing for the next couple of years. He figured that as long as he was here, he had no reason to say anything at all, most people who joined up found themselves in a fox hole for weeks on end, eating MRE's. But here he was, where the troops stayed in houses, ate good food, and basically just cooled their heels until the entire situation just blew over. It was just a big waiting game, at least from where he stood thats all it was. He had no idea what it was like for all those men and women who lived in Britain, all those families that had been destroyed by the virus, and for the men of the United States military that tried to rebuild the fallen civilization. He was glad that he didn't have to see it first hand, see the faces, know that there was nothing he could do to help. They got to the end of their run, Price looked down at the ground and he could see the footsteps from the patrol that had come before, having stopped and turned around in the same spot that they were right then.

"Ohhh man, its gonna be good to get back." Peyton muttered as Davis handed him a wrap sheet, Peyton started jotting down observations from where they were standing, the ocean, the horizon, the abandoned vehicles in the parking lot in the distance. The feeling of udder loneliness was apparent, and as the silence crept on it became more and more obvious.

"Situation Normal, lets head back." Davis ordered over the radio. The two teams would head back for the base and rendezvous just outside of town. Davis waved his hand in the air and pointed across the field. Price took the last couple breathes of he sea air and looked to the horizon, the English seaboard on the horizon. He shook his head, thinking of the horrors that took place just across the way, so close he could have seen it all with his own eyes. Turning away from the sea he nodded to himself, feeling comfort in the fact that it was all over. There was no way it was coming back now, how could it? The four started to make their way across the feild, stepping through the grass that was now weist high, having not been cut or harvested in quite some time. It was like looking across a painting, tall tufts of grass separated one feild from the next, making it almost impossible to see the other team from here, even though the area was so flat. The waves coming in from the ocean had made it hard to hear anything for the last little while they had been walking. But as they got halfway across the field they started to hear something, something that didn't sound like waves anymore, it had a steady, almost heavy sound. Like an airplane, or something else.

Peyton was the first to turn around, looking around for anything that could have been making that noise. Price next, then Bronze. Davis knew about the mass evac, so it wouldn't have been too surprising to see a couple of airplanes making their way back to Paris for debriefing. But instead they saw nothing, all of them looked around as the noise seemed to get louder and louder. They look to each other in confusion, raising their arms in the air not able to see anything up or down. Then Price sees it, a small dot in the sky on the horizon.

"Yo its a chopper" He says pointing it out for the others to see. As Davis moves up to his right he pulls out his binoculars, the evac choppers were Blackhawks, Iroqouis choppers. And a couple of airplanes, but what he saw was neither, a single engine chopper, coming in what looked like a pretty reckless manner. As the chopper got closer it veered off to the east, the four men looked on in pure confusion. Davis on the other hand shook his head and pulled his radio off his shoulder.

"Roost this is Eagle Four Two." he said.

"Go Eagle Four Two." The voice on the other end responded.

"Yeah, we got an unidentified helicopter setting down in a feild west of my position, we expecting any visitors over?"

"Eagle Four two thats a negative Advise you Move to intercept over."

"Roger that, we're gonna check it out, Eagle Four Two out." he clicks the mic off and waves his hand for the guys to come into a circle as the helicopter is setting down about a thousand yards off.

"What you thinkin' boss?" Peyton asks, keeping his eye on the chopper as it disappears behind some tall bushes.

"We should check it out, looks like their lost, or out of fuel or something, safety's off though." He says, clicking his safety to the "Fire" position. This is the first time Price has thought about using his gun since basic training, and he was nervous. His hand shakes as he pushes the safety off, he keeps his finger off the trigger, even he knows that hes getting shakey. The four men begin their run across the feilds, jumping fences and mowing through the tall grass. The chopper had dropped out of sight for about a minute and a half as they ran, and when it finally came back into view they could see its passengers. One of them was a soldier, he was waving his hands in the air trying to catch their attention, wearing a grey pilots uniform and holding an MP5 in his hand. Behind him stands a teenage girl, looking to be about 17-18 with dirty blonde hair. The third passenger was a young boy, his wavy hair blowing in the wind as he looked out at the soldiers now approaching quickly. As the team moved in they could see that the two civilians were covered in blood, some of it even running fresh down the side of the small boys head. It was at that moment Davis dropped to one knee, holding up a fist telling the rest of them to stop, in a second, all of the guns were aimed. Price didn't understand, Davis aimed his gun steadily at the three standing near the chopper.

"Boss what we doing?" Peyton whispered.

"Identify!" Davis yelled to the pilot.

"Sgt. Flynn, transporting Survivors from District 1!" The pilot yelled back.

"Oh well thats good yeah?" Bronze said questioningly.

"There were no Survivors..." Davis said standing up and moving forward, having not lowered his gun yet. The four moved up on the three standing near the chopper, Flynn kept his hands up, nodding his head to the two kids standing at his side to do the same. As the troop got to them Davis kicked the back of Flynn's knees and brought him to a kneel, taking the MP5 from his hand. He checked him over while the others stood guard over the other two.

"I'm not injured, but the boy needs attention." Flynn said, not making eye contact with any of them.

"Yeah I bet he does..." Davis replied.

"I'm fine..." The boy spoke.

"Don't talk kid." Price said.

The boy nodded his head, the girl shaking her head at him.

"Where you guys headed?" Davis asked Flynn, standing him back up.

"Out of England man, shit got crazy over there." Flynn replied.

"Yeah we heard, I guess ya'll had a serious fight on your hands." Peyton said, in kind of an upbeat manor.

"Alotta good men died...can't say I share your enthusiasm." Flynn shook his head.

"Whos the cargo?" Davis asked.

"Andy.." The boy said. "Andy Harris."

"Hey, I said don't talk." Price snapped. The boy looked at him now, through the strands of hair that had fallen over his face, his eyes locking with Price's. Price nodded his head, and lowered his gun, stepping towards the boy.

"You want something man?" He said in sort of an intimidating stance.

"No, he doesn't." The girl spoke up. "And I'm Tammy Harris." She said turning to Sgt. Davis.

"Well Tammy, Andy, welcome to France..." Davis said handing the MP5 Back to Flynn.


	2. Heterochromia

Chapter 2: Heterochromia

"Coreman! check on the boy and lets get them back to roost!" Davis called back as Peyton moved up, the medical kid strapped firmly on his back.

"Lemme get a look at you little man." He said, but as soon as he got within an arm's length Andy took a couple steps backwards, timidly holding his shoulder. Peyton spoke in a comforting tone.

"Come on man, just lemme see it, I'm a doctor."

Andy nervously pulled his jacket back, and moved his shirt to the side, reveiling the huge mark on his shoulder.

"Whoa, what the fuck did you do to yourself kid?" Peyton asked searching through his pack for some gauze and some anti-bacterial.

"The soldiers mistook us for Infected...shot him." Tammy snapped.

"United States soldiers did this? This doesn't look like a bullet wound." Peyton said looking up at the Seargent. "Why would We shoot civilians?"

"The Command Personell had no choice, the fact remains that the virus is one of the most unpredictable virus' we've ever encountered, maybe they wanted to take no chances." Davis replied, Andy nervously nodded his head as Peyton started taping up his shoulder, looping the gauze under his arm.

"Ouch!" He said as Peyton applied some pressure to the wound.

"Haha, sorry kid, your gonna be fine though." It was at this moment that Peyton's eyes met Andy's, it was pretty obvious as the blood from the center of his eye had started to run into the white.

"Whoa, heterochromia." Peyton said, standing back up.

"What?" Price said stepping forward for a better look, but Andy turned his head, letting his hair fall in front of his eyes.

"Heterochromia, its probably a one in a million shot, my uncle had it, and my little cousin does too, it runs in the family." Peyton explained as Tammy and Andy sat down on the side of the chopper cock pit.

"Damn look at that, I've never seen Blood Vessels look like that, you been cuttin' it close kid?" Price chuckled under his beathe as the kid shook his head, sure there had been some close calls, but he wasn't going to let on that he had even been around the infected, regardless of the blood that now covered his clothes. Davis looked over the two teenagers sitting on the chopper, then turned to Flynn.

"Whats the situation with these two?" He asked as Flynn adjusted the ammunition in his gun.

"My Friend said that there was something special about them, he never got the chance to tell me what, said that I needed to bring them here, so here I am." Flynn, thinking of the last time he saw his friend Doyle, he thought that maybe if he had just picked them up when he had the chance, Doyle might still be alive. Regrets...

"Well either way, we gotta get them cleaned up, any idea how much of this blood is infected?" Davis walked towards the two, the kids looked up at him as he rubbed the blood on the sides of Andy's jacket.

"hey!" Andy said, pulling away. Then with much regret in his voice "...This blood came from one of them."

"Alright guys, lets get these three to the base and get em cleaned up, use maximum caution." Davis ordered, the guys geared up as Price waved his hand in the air for the three to follow them.

The three standing near the chopper had come a long ways, unbeknownst to the soldiers now escorting them towards the base. Flynn was walking just behind the group, looking back at the chopper, realizing that he has left his picture just above the pilots seat. A picture that has kept him a little more than sane for the last couple of months, his family back home, smiling in one of his better memories. He could really use it right now, but he knows that the soldiers probably wouldn't let him go back now. The feilds were a welcome site for the kids walking between the soldiers patrol, Tammy looked out across them, her eyes lost in a deep stare, probably picturing those times in Italy, the last trip they took with their parents before they were shipped off. For Andy there was something different though, and although his face was steady, there was a million thoughts slamming their way through his head. He looked up at his sister, holding his hand, yet seemingly a thousand miles away. The blood on his face had dried, and there was a sticky feeling in between his fingers. The throbbing in his shoulder had gone down a little since Peyton had worked on it.

"What you Thinking Man?" Price whispered to Peyton as they worked their way across the feild.

"I Don't know, that was definately not a gunshot wound though." He said shaking his head.

"Well then why dont you fucking say something?" Peyton put his finger in front of his mouth, Price didn't need to talk so loud. Ahead of them, Tammy had heard that last part of the conversation, she turned to the two, letting them know she heard them.

"Chill out Rook, we handle refugees all the time." Bronze muttered.

It was obvious to Tammy that Peyton had noticed something, the obviousness of the bite-mark on the side of Andy's shoulder was striking. Why Peyton hadn't said anything was still in question however, why hadn't he said anything? He noticed the blood in his eye, so what was stopping him from asking the obvious question? So little was known about the virus as a whole to really speculate on anything from the outside. Peyton didn't have any idea what to expect, he had never experienced the virus for himself. Tammy knew though, she knew what was wrong with her brother.

"Eagle Four Two, Roost requests a Sit-Rep Over." the voice on the radio was that of the Leutenant, they had been out for a while, and hadn't checked back with them since earlier.

"Eagle Four Two Situation Normal, we're coming back with two refugees and one of our pilots, yeah, it looks like they ran out of gas and had to ditch, we'll be back in twenty." Davis replied.

"Roger that, Roost out."

The walk back to the base was a long and awkward one, the chit-chat from earlier had mostly calmed down now, letting the overly depressing state of boredom creep on. The kids looked around in all directions, taking in the area, the town on the edge of the seemingly endless feild. The clouds had begun to move in on the horizon and had just begun to cover the sun, casting an outline of them in the sky,as well as the ground at their feet. Price shook his head as he looked at the boy, covered in blood and walking with his head facing the ground. Tammy looked at him in the corner of her vision, she felt the tension building in Price's head. She could see it in his face. But there was so much more on her mind now than Price could ever have possibly begun to understand. She had been through killing her father, watching him die in the pool of blood, the only comforting thought was that he wasn't himself, and that monster that she shot down in the train station was not her father. Don Harris had died long before that moment. A tear had begun to well up in her eye, but she had to be strong, for Andy, for herself. She looked down at her clothes, her hands covered with an off brown dust. She felt it on her face, the dry feeling. In the back of her head she knew that all of this was far from over.

Andy on the other hand was in a state of hopeless depression, he stared down at the ground as it passed just underneath his feet, and right then, he felt lower than all of it. Subconciously he knew that his sister had lied through her teeth to him back there. There was a cold feeling running through him now, like the tingle you get when you sleep on your shoulder for too long. He could feel it now, running through his entire body. He had felt it since he collapsed in the subway station. The feeling was too much for him all at once, it felt like he couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even scream. All he knew was that he wasn't going to be responsible for his sisters death, and that was the last thing he remembered thinking before everything went black for those few seconds. Seeing her face, his Mother's, His Father's. He checked his pockets for the picture of his mother he had taken from his old house back in London, but was let down, it was nowhere to be found. He nodded his head, could anything go the way he wanted to?

Flynn on the other hand was lost in his thoughts of Doyle, of all of them on the ground back in Regents Park. Looking up at the chopper as their only way out, and somehow he didn't want to listen. He remembers Doyle's face, the last look that he gave him was a look of resent, that look that told Flynn that he let Doyle down. There wasn't really anything good that could get pulled out of a situation like the one they had been through. So much destruction, he thought then of the site of the firebombs over London. Remember feeling like everything was lost, watched the destruction man could reap upon himself. All because of something that was cooked up in a lab somewhere. As Flynn looked into the clouds rolling up on the horizon he knew that there was a lot more than just a storm coming, he knew that the road that lied ahead of him was probably still filled with alot of trouble. He had done the unthinkable, flown survivors out of District 1, jumped over the channel. Broken the rules, he knew that no one was supposed to have survived District 1, so what was going to happen when the soldiers now walking with them found that out? He looked around at all of them, Price looked right back at him, nodding his head forward.

"Hey Pilot." Price muttered.

"Flynn." He replied with a snap.

"Whats your stick man?"

"180th SOAR."

"So what was it like?" Price began to step closer to Flynn who only shook his head at the question.

"To tell you the truth kid, I couldn't even speculate, I wasn't on the ground, but from what I saw, it must have been hell." Flynn looks at the two kids walking just behind him. Price looks back at them as well, Tammy giving him an evil eye. He shakes it off and looks back to Flynn.

"You think anybody else made it out?" Davis cut price off.

"Private, stow it, lets just get these guys back to base."

Jason shook his head, there was alot that he wanted to know about the entire situation. And the thoughts now jumping around in his head bothered him all the while they walked. The base was on alert now, the atmosphere had completely changed since the patrol had gone out for their patrol, whether or not it had anything to do with them wasn't clear, but as the better part of the town got into view Price could see alot of movement. Men in bio-chemical suits rushing towards them, followed closely by multiple squads of soldiers at either side. It was standard procedure, they had to be sterilyzed before they could be processed. Andy grabbed his sisters hand, who also was feeling a little uneasy as the group of heavily suited men ran towards them. In his chest Andy's heart was pounding a mile a minute, and his breath had started to pick up. He gripped Tammy's hand a little tighter as the men disarmed Flynn and put his arms behind his back, escorting him towards a tent that was just getting blown up in the center of town. The Bio-chemical suits made the men inside seem more like robots to the kids as they moved them the same as Flynn. As the three were being Escorted off towards the tent Leutenant Forrest was there to meet them, He pulled Davis and his team aside.

"You found em huh?" He said over the sounds of the men now shouting in the background.

"Yeah, they came in from over the channel, dropped their chop three clicks to the north." Davis went over the situation.

"Well that chopper was reported MIA, they figured it had gone down, they said that the pilot couldn't be raised, I guess we'll find out what the problem was." Forrest said watching the three get taken into the tent.

"Sir, the kid is hurt pretty badly, and he might have some brain trauma, judging by the broken blood vessels in his eye." Peyton stepped up, having been the only one really able to assess Andy's condition at the time.

"Right we'll get medical to do a full exam, but if one of them were infected, we would know it." The luetenant was optimistic. Nodding his head as the inner part of the Tent had started to move as the shower hoses were turned on.

As Price's head hit the upside of his cot for the first time since being here he stretched his arms out to the side. Peyton's rack was just across from his, the man found himself sitting up, rubbing a towel through the little bit of hair the army had left him with, trying to go over everything that he had just seen. He didn't know for sure, but there was a creeping throught in the back of his head that was just now starting to really eat at him. He didn't know if he could be straight with it though, the thought was just too unrealistic to seem right. He thought of all the things he had ever heard about the virus, the way it mutates and the way it communicates from person to person. As Price sat up on the bed Peyton nodded his head.

"Hey man, I think that kid had a bite mark on his arm." He said, his voice giving away a subtle uncertainty. Price raised his eyebrow.

"A Bite mark? Like what somebody just took a chunk out of his shoulder?" Price said with a chuckle.

"No asshole, like one of those fucking things bit him." Peyton's tone became serious, more serious than he had been all day. Price didn't know the man that well, but it felt a little out of his charactor. Suddenly Price levelled with him.

"So what are you thinking? That he's one of them?" Price was going over it in his head, there wasn't a way that he could be sure.

"I dont know, he definately not acting the part though, its like theres just something about him. You now I looked into that kids eyes and I really saw the blood vessels in his eye changing. As if the blood was free flowing." The picture in his head was a clear one, he saw fresh blood, it shook him, like the soft rumble that plays in the back of your head.

"Well I guess we'll find out in a couple of hours, they're gonna run tests and shit aren't they?" Price wasn't too clear on what was supposed to happen when a survivor was found, especially survivors in such condition. The blood on the kids clothes was still wet, the blood from Andy's wound was still on Peyton's gloves. He could see the stain that it made on the finger tips as he took the gloves off and put them on the side of the bed. He took a drink of the water in his canteen and drew in a deep breath.

"What else do you think could have bitten him?" Price jumped right to the obvious question.

"I dont know, but I think we need to be on our toes a little bit, goddamn rook, you picked a hell of a fucking day to show up." Peyton said running his hands over his face and falling back against the rack. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, trying to play over the next set of events in his head. He thought of all the stories he had heard from his friends who had seen what the virus had done first hand, during the first evacuation of the U.K. Peyton was in basic training, and alot of the guys he had done a tour with in Iraq had been there, he remembered the vivid descriptions of horror violence as if he had been there himself. He heard the stories so many times he might as well have been. And suddenly how much he really didn't understand came into perspective. Rubbing his eyes took the images out of his head. He came back into reality as Davis and Bronze stepped through the door.

"Hey guys, they just got done sterilyzing them, their gonna start running tests in a couple of minutes." Davis said stepping through the door with a tablet in his hand. "I've gotta go get a statement from the pilot before we get in touch with his stick."

"So he ran?" Price asked.

"I don't know, Forrest said that he was MIA, so unless the radio in that chopper is not working, he ran." Davis started heading for the door at the back of the tent. "Look, I'll be back in about twenty so why dont you guys get your weapons ready, we're going to the range."

He dissapeared behind the door, Bronze turned to the others and filled them in on what was going on. Apparently what was said was that there was an all points bulletin on the chopper they had just picked up. Something that Davis wasn't even being clear about, something that wasn't even presented to Leutenant Forrest clearly. They said that all survivors of District One were to be handled with extreme caution, but something about the way that everything was going down told Bronze that those kids and that pilot were not supposed to have gotten out of Englad. The reports were all wrong, the survival rate in London had dropped dramatically, and if there was anyone that could have gotten out of that place they were to be treated as prisoners. The way the military dealt with Prisoners was pretty rotten, Peyton and Bronze had both seen what they had done to POW's in Iraq and Afghanistan, but those were kids out there. Price stepped to the door of the tent and looked out into the town center, the kids were being led across the yard towards the medical facility, dressed in one piece gowns, wrist bands around their hands.

"What you think their gonna do to em?" Price asked, watching as Andy's eyes met his from across the yard. He turned away, back towards Bronze and Peyton.

"I dont know, but whatever happens from here those kids have hell ahead of them." Peyton said looking out the door as Tammy and Andy dissapeared into the medical center. Price shook his head, this wasn't right, something about the entire situation stank like a cover, back home Price would have been the first one to call out the government on an obvious cover up. And something about this smelled like it, like there was alot that wasn't getting told to everyone. There was alot more about the kids in their custody than just a couple more survivors. Price shooks his head, and laid back down on the rack, closing his eyes. They had some training coming, but a little nap couldn't have hurt anything.

Seargent Davis sat down at the interrogation table. Behind him a gigantic one way window was reflecting Flynn back his reflection. Flynn sat there timidly, his leg shaking as Davis flipped through the official report as written by Colonel Stone. The sweat on Flynn's brow was noticable as it ran from the top of his head down the side of his cheek. He was starting to feel the pressure, what he did was wrong, and he knew it, he had no call to take those kids out of London, but he had to honor his friends last wish. He thought that if he could at least do that, then maybe Doyle's death would be justified. Maybe it wouldn't have died for nothing, but the way it was looking, the way Davis was looking at him, this was turning out to be more trouble than he thought.

"So Flynn, this report says that you are MIA, off the grid." Davis said, tapping his fingers against the table.

"No sir, I'm transporting Survivors from England to the Mainland." He was trying to look as serious as possible, but Davis had interrogated hundreds of terrorists in his time in the military. And judging by Flynn's body language, he could tell that he was lying right to his face.

"Flynn, if you level with me this will be alot easier, your already looking at a court-marshal and your cooperation could only help your situation." Davis tried to explain to him that making this harder on him, would really only make it harder on himself. There was a long pause as the two looked at each other, as if Davis was waiting for Flynn to just drop the act and come clean, because he knew what the real deal was, it was right there in the report. And as scary as the thought was, as he read over the rest of the report the words just managed to push their way out of his mouth.

"It says here that they found someone, someone that was...immune...different...a carrier of the virus, a woman." Davis began as Flynn's breathing started to speed up. Davis could tell that what he was saying was hitting some sort of chord with Flynn.

"It said that it was reported to General Stone that the woman had two children, and now we assume that the two were killed in the fire-bombing, but look over here." Davis said pulling up the refugee reports, import/export for the six months. "It says here that only two children were ever transported back into the country after the re-building process began."

"What you think your getting at?" Flynn asked.

"Ohh man, come on, you think I'm stupid?" Davis paused for an answer, but really didnt need one. "Now those kids right there, the military thinks that they could be of some use if they have gotten through uninfected. But as it stands right now, if one of them is carrying that virus, we are ordered to eliminate the threat of infection to the mainland."

Flynn stopped for a moment, looking off to the left of the man sitting in front of him. Thinking that maybe bringing them here was a mistake, he thought of both of their faces, he had only really known them for a short time, hadn't really even had a conversation with them. But through Doyle he knew that they were connected, and thinking that everything that he and Doyle had done might be put in jeopardy because of what was in that report was stupid. He shook his head as Davis smirked and chuckled seemingly in his face.

"Look Flynn, we've got over a couple thousand men on this base, how long do you think it would take a virus like that to wipe us all out?" Davis said, pausing for Flynn to answer, but didnt let him.

"Your playing games with the wrong things, if it was up to me, I would put you away for a long time, your lucky the kids aren't infected, otherwise you would find yourself in the middle of a shitstorm." Davis said, packing up the file and standing up from the desk.

"Wait..." Flynn spoke as Davis started heading for the door, he turned back and waiting for Flynn to get done thinking over whatever he was about to say.

"My friend Died so that those kids could live, And I'm sitting here trying to think up a reason why?" Flynn looked up at Davis as if asking him the question directly. "Why would he do that, unless there was a chance that one of those kids could stop it...all of it." The thought was something that Davis could relate to, the grand scheme of the United States Military in Europe was to stop the infection, and if one of these kids was the key, then they would stop at nothing to make sure that they found a way.

"I guess we'll find out wont we Flynn?" Davis said charasmatically as he turned and headed out the door. There was a pause as the tension inside Flynn rose and rose, until finally he snapped, punching down hard on the metal table, letting the sound ring out loud inside the small room. In front of him there were no doubt at least a dozen officers taking notes of his condition, his reactions to questions and statements. They would raelly have something to write about now wouldn't they? He thought to himself as he sat back down in the chair after pacing back and forth for a moment or two. He knew what the military was prepared to do in the name of science, in the name of the good fight, he knew that they would destroy those kids, run them through so many tests and lock them away in a box for the next thirty years. As long as they could justify it with finding a cure for infection...as long as they could Justify it.

Andy stepped through the halls of the Medical Center, set up out of an old diner, most of the stuff was still in its bags, having never been used for anything other than decoration for the last Four months that the Military had been there. There was a certain sense of rush, like everything had to happen as quickly as possible, the doctors and nurses rushed the two down the halls, almost pushing them as they went along. Andy and Tammy were holding hands, much like they had been for most of the time they had been here. But as they rounded the corner a few of the nurses scooped Andy off his feet.

"Andy!" Tammy screamed as her hand slipped out of his.

"Tam!" Andy's small scream was muffled as the nurses pulled him into a room on the left and slammed the door behind them. Andy could still hear Tammy screaming on the other side of the door, but as the footsteps got sparcer, her Screaming got lower and lower in his ears, they had taken her somewhere. But where? Before he could think of anything they sat him down on a gurney, pulling his arm to an upward facing position and feeling around for the vein in his elbow. Andy was scared, his body was shaking uncontrollably, his eyes danced around the room, frantically taking in the faces of the Nurses now crowding around him, ready for him to make some sort of drastic moves. But he was too frightened, he looked around at all of them, as if begging him with his eyes. And the needle peirced his skin his eyes met those of the Red haired Nurse standing in front of him. She looked at both of his eyes, Green and Brown, a bit of blood swimming through the green one. He took a deep breath as the blood squirted from his arm into the test tube. He knew it was time to find out if he was one of them or not, in the back of his mind he really didn't want to know. Because if he was, that mean Tammy would have lied to him, he closed his eyes and thought of his mother as the Nurses pushed him back against the gurney. He saw himself standing in a feild, the sun beating down on his face, it was warm, so real it was like he was really there. His mothers arms were outstretched, as if reaching for him, her face was warm, that smile that he remembered coming home to everyday. That smile that woke him up for school in the mornings, the smile that he loved, and missed so much, slowly he began stepping towards her, but much to his dismay as he gets within arms reach, her arms retreat, folding back behind her as her head fell backwards, she let out a scream as the white in her eyes quickly filled with a violent shade of red, suddenly his eyes cock open as wide as they can, and he screams.

"Nooooooooooo!" The voice echoes throughout the room, as Andy sits up in the bed the four nurses standing around him force him back down. Everyone in the room begins yelling, Andy kicks his legs all around him, knocking over IV's and kicking over the table at the end of the gurney. As one of the nurses quickly tucks the blood sample into her pocket the others converge on Andy, grabbing his arms and throwing them down against the metal sides of the bed. The others hold his legs down as best they can. Andy fights as hard as his body will let him, but the sheer number of people holding him down at just too much, he lets out a cry.

"Tammy, Help Me!" His voice is cracking, the horror of the situation is unbelievable, and it is now that Andy truly fears for his life. He fights for a few more seconds, as hard as he can, but the nurses hands are strong. They quickly strap Andy's arms, and then before he knows it his legs, they tighten the straps so that Andy cannot move. Frantically he pulls at the straps, screaming in fear as the nurses begin to step away. He looks around at them, mixed with emotions of fear and anger. As he turns, he feels a needle being pushed into his shoulder, he turns to look, the face of the nurse wearing the mask burns its way into his head as the lights go out. And in that second, Andy grabs the nurse...

"Tell Tammy I'm sorry." He whispered as the drugs take him under. The nurse looks at the boy as his eyes roll back into his head and close. She grabs his head and rests it back against the top of the gurney. The other nurses look at each other, all out of breathe after what has just happened. Andy's body is limp, almost lifeless other than his soft breathing. As his chest rises and falls the nurses begin to disperse. And as the door shuts behind them, underneath Andy's eye lids, his eyes begin to move. 


	3. Hard Rain

As Andy dissapears behind the door, the fear in Tammy's eyes grows outragious. She tries to dive towards the door but as she does she is grabbed by two of the doctors that have been escorting them through the hallways. A couple of the soldiers restrain her as well as she frantically tries to make it to her brother now behind the door. They push her down the hallway, all of them trying all at once to assure her that he brother is in no danger at all. But her sister senses kicked in, her duty to keep Andy safe. She thinks of what they had said to each other just that morning at the park. No matter what happens, they would stay together. And yet here she was, once again separated from him, with no way to know what was happening, the way they had ripped them both apart was shocking. And no matter how many people told her that everything was going to be fine, Tammy knew that nothing was going to be. The fact was sticking in her head like a railroad spike, and the blatent hostility was a tell-tale sign that more was going on here than just protocol and procedure. They push Tammy into a room alone, the windows in this room have been tinted a shallow yellow color, as if someone had been smoking in the room for years, a small bit of brown had begun to creep up from the bottom of the window. But for the most part the room was nice, it looked more like a overloaded storage room at this point than anything, IV's and bags lined the walls. As she walked through the room she observed mostly medical equipment, Needles, Defibrillators and surgery kits. The door had been shut and locked behind her, and as she pushed against the door it didn't even budge, as if someone had braced it with something from the other side. She put her head against the door, and vaguely could make out her brother, screaming her name. She let out a small cry as a tear ran down her face, biting her tounge she wanted so badly to help him. But there was nothing she could do here, she collapsed on the ground, softly whimpering to herself, holding herself as if wanting someone else to be there.

In her head, she was screaming at the top of her lungs, lost in a sea of anger and helplessness. She had never felt like this in her life, what was happening to her, and her brother, had the horrors they suffered already not been enough? She rested herself against the door, still sobbing a little bit, but trying to pull herself together. She knew that if she lost it now, they would never get out of here, she had to keep it together, be strong and maybe she might be able to help him, she just had to bide her time. She took a couple of moments to composer herself, slowing her breathing back to a calm pace. She knew that she needed to get her brother out of here, the no doubt would find out that he was infected after they ran the first series of tests on him. But no sooner had she gotten the thought of saving her brother into perspective the door blew open again, there were two soldiers standing at the door, armed, and staring down at her sitting on the floor. They moved to the side and waved for her to follow them, making it clear that they would use force if needed. She nodded her head and walked in the space between them, they filed in behind her as she made her way down the hallway. They pointed to the right, the room looked like a bedroom, but instead of a big cozy bed she was met with the side of a stretcher, and one of the nurses holding a capsule for a blood sample. She pointed at the table and the soldiers pushed Tammy through the door. Tammy stumbled forward and sat down on the stretcher, holding out her arm so that the nurse could take the sample. As the nurse tied the rubber band around her upper arm Tammy looked at her.

"Wheres my brother, whats happening to Andy?" She asked, but the nurse ignored her, going about her business taking her blood.

"I said, where is Andy?" Tammy said again, the nurses eyes looked up at her for a moment, as if trying to not make eye contact with her, the nurse looks away again. Tammy shook her head and grabbed the Nurses hand, softly, calmly, the nurse finally makes eye contact with Tammy.

"Listen to me, I love my brother, just please tell me where he is?" She pleaded with the nurse, the nurse shook her head a little, not able to look Tammy in the eyes.

"I Dont know Miss, please just wait here and everything will be fine." She assured her. But Tammy wasn't buying it, she had her Andy scream for her, and knew that it wouldn't have happened unless Andy was really scared. The fact that no one wanted to talk to her was frustrating, but looking at the two soldiers standing at the door with assault rifles, she knew that there was nothing she could do about anything that was happening. The nurse's vile was filled with Tammy's blood, she pulled the needle out and covered the wound with a peice of cotton. She passed the sample to one of the soldier who quickly handled it to one of the medical officers stepping through the hallway towards the lab. As the nurse stepped out of the room, one of the soldiers did as well, the other stayed behind, lighting a cigarette before shutting the door behind him, locking Tammy in the room. She moved to the window, from here she could see Delta's tent, Price standing in the doorway of it, looking over towards the medical center smoking a cigarette. No matter how much had tried, he just had found it hard to fall asleep given the events of the last couple of hours. A light sprinkle had started from the clouds overhead, and as Price blew the remaining smoke out of his lungs he looked up and down the medical center. Something was going on in there, something that was definately not normal. Tammy watched him from the window, swearing to make eye contact with him on at least several occassions, but somehow he just kept standing, as if unable to see her face in the window.

Back in the feild Price had rubbed her the wrong way, and at first she didn't really like him. But now looking out that window, she could see that something was bothering him. There was really no way to be sure, but by the way he was looking up at the building, whatever was bothering him had something to down with her and Andy. But there was a difference between thinking something was wrong, and wanting to take a stand against it, Price was a soldier, and she knew that. She knew that most soldiers like that were all about their job, got a kick out of being a dick to everyone, soldiers were just trigger happy nut jobs, cranked up on Monster Energy drink and miltary paychecks. But Price was the rookie, maybe he hadn't turned into one of those people yet, and right now, she was willing to hold onto any little bit of hope she could find. She wished that Price would be that one, like Doyle, the one who could make a difference. But where had that gotten Doyle she thought, where has helping them landed anyone. Her Father, Doyle, Scarlett, and now maybe Flynn. Nothing good had come from helping us, she thought. So why should she have expected Price to have done anything other than get himself into trouble, or worse.

Peyton and Bronze were fine-tuning their weapons for the training op that Davis was about to send them on. Peyton nodded his head, his want for information was really getting the better of him. He knew that he was probably overstepping his bounds, but there was just something about it all just didn't seem right to him. And now that he actually had a shot at exposing something, he wasn't going to let it go without the right kind of attention. Picking up his gun he headed for the door, but just as he was leaving out Peyton spoke up.

"Hey Rook, where you goin, Davis is gonna be back and if your not here he's gonna flip." he said, stopping Price as he stepped out the door.

"I'm going to canteen, try and cover, I'll be back before he comes though I swear." Price replied. Peyton nodded, knowing that there was something more about it.

"Alright, hurry up, we'll try and cover." Peyton said.

With a nod Price was off, quickly making his way across the yard as the rain begin to come down harder and harder by the second. He sprinted the length of the yard and into the breezeway in front of the medical center. Since the arrival of the new "Refugees" Security had noticably gone up around the medical center, the guards had become armed and were looking a bit more serious than normal. Price didn't notice however, he stepped through the doors expecting to see some sort of movement. But to his suprise the hallways were empty, he could hear sounds and conversation coming from the different rooms throughout the building as he stepped down the hallways. A radio sitting on a desk in a room on the left caught his attention. Through the static of the transmission, he could make out only a few words.

"This...Gen...Stone...Escaped...Dis...One...Elimina...threat..." It was like listening to a post-apocolyptic broadcast. He picked the radio up off the table and tucked it into his radio pouch on his shoulder. Moving down the hallways that were still eerily quiet. At the end of the hall the soldier stood guard, watching Price as he stepped towards him. Price took a few deep breathes before addressing the soldier.

"Hey man, where'd they take those two Refugees Delta just brought in?" He asked, the soldier looked him up and down for a moment.

"They are items of high interest, where they are isn't your problem, move along." The soldier replied. Price nodded his head. Making his way down the hallway he couldn't help but notice the sheer amount of Military personel to the Medical Personel. Something was definately going on. He moved along the wall for a moment, moving to a door marked "Oporational Intelligence." He knocked on the door a couple times, waiting a few moments to see if anyone would answer. After a couple moments of silence he pushed the door open, making his way into the room that was filled with filing cabinets and computers. The fax machine sat on the far corner of the room, and as Price started looking over some papers on a desk it started printing. His head snapped towards the source of the clicking sounds on the other side of the room. As he made his way across the room something caught his eye, a paper that had been left open on the desk right in front of the fax machine. It wouldn't have caught his eye if it wasn't for the gigantic red writing across the top of it.

"Eyes Only"

"It has been confirmed, The 82nd Airborne Division's hold-out inside District 1 has failed, the virus outbreak has become uncontrollable, we are marked at 90% Casualties. A carrier for virus marked T-101 has left the quarentine zone and is now a direct threat to all facilities. If Brought into Contact with Subject take extreme caution in eliminating the target and alerting the correct authorities. Haz-Mat and CDC teams will be on location at all points around 12 pm. All squads under the command of the 82nd Airborne are order to full alert. Be prepared for full lock-down of borders on our order, we will send more intel on subjects when it becomes available."

As he read it he was overcome with a sense of distaste. What was the military doing? What had it done over in England? Was the outbreak that uncontrollable? And if so what had they done to the population? All these questions now crashed into Price's head. He turned his attention now to the printed peice of paper that was now sitting in the fax tray. On the sheet of paper were two printed pictures of the two subjects that the military had marked as HVT's (High-Value Targets). The faces on the sheet were familiar to Price, because he had just seen them. The pictures taken by the military in District 1 for the Identification cards, one Andrew Harris, and one Tammy Harris. As Price lifted the paper up to his eyes the writing across the bottom of the paper was clear, more clear than anything had been all day. The orders were simple, yet terrifying to the young private.

"If Encountered Eliminate IMMEDIATELY, NO EXCEPTIONS!"

The words burned into his mind, and suddenly he pictured himself, killing that boy. The image of throwing the boy down and holding a gun to his head, the boy looking up at him with fear in his eyes, one green, one brown. Price knew that if it came to it, he wasn't going to be able to pull the trigger. Andy was innocent, Tammy was Innocent, what had they done to deserve to be killed in that way? Why would the United States Army give the go-ahead to kill innocent civilians? The fear, the fear of contamination. Jason didn't understand the destructive power that the virus held, he hadn't seen the fall of london, and hadn't been there for the original outbreak. He crumpled up the peice of paper and tucked it firmly into his pocket. He had to think, but he didn't really know about what. He knew that Andy and Tammy were refugees, turned fugitives. And as he stepped back out into the hallway his mind was going a mile a minute. What was he about to do? Senseless Murder was wrong no matter what the justification was. They had no idea if Andy or Tammy was Infected, and from what Price had heard about the virus, it was obvious to him that neither of them were. He shook his head as he made his way back through the medical center. What the hell was he about to do? He knew that he couldn't just say anything...just saying it wouldn't have been enough. He had to think up a plan.

As he ran back across the yard the rain had begun to pour down pretty hard. He ducked into the tent and was met by Peyton and Bronze who were in full gear, ready to go.

"Where the hell you been at Rook?" Peyton asked, a bit pissed. "We've been activated!"

"Activated?" Price sounded surprised.

"Yeah, we're on alert, looks like we're about to see some action after all." Bronze said with a smile on his face, locking the clip into the bottom of his gun.

"Wait wait wait, what are we going to go do?" Price asked, holding his hand against Peyton's chest.

"Rookie, we've got a confirmed carrier who jumped out of the Green Zone." Peyton explained.

"I know, guys wait." He whispered, taking the sheet of paper out of his pocket. "Look at this."

The two look over the sheet, reading the red print at the bottom and examining the faces printed across the paper. They looked at each other for a moment, then back at Price.

"So what, we got em?" Peyton said, a small bit of confusion in his voice.

"Man their gonna kill those kids!" Price said, snatching the paper back from Peyton.

"So, Price they might be infected!" Bronze was down to earth about it, realistic.

"Man, from what i've heard about the virus...those kids aren't infected, they would be flesh eating monsters by now wouldn't they!" Price said, raising his arms into the air. The two men looked at each other, the kid was right. All indications of infection were absent in both Andy and Tammy. Flynn, the pilot could give them the insight they needed, although the only way to get to Flynn was to go to the brigg and talk to him.

"What are you saying Price, they've got the wrong kids?" Bronze asked.

"I dont know, what the hell went on over there? If these kids aren't infected they damn sure want them dead for a reason." Price looked back and forth at the two of them, but they didn't know. They hadn't seen it, hadn't heard the order. But everyone knew the protocol, Code Red. Everyone knew what it meant, and if the government had considered the hammer down protocol against London, than the outbreak must have been worse than they thought.

"What if we killed all those people?" Price asked nervously, the thought made the two think, Peyton shooks his head.

"Nah man, we wouldn't do something like that, theres an evac happening right now." He said as Bronze stepped in.

"For Miltary Command Personel, the reports said nothing about Survivor extraction, or evacuation, which means that as far as the military is concerned, all those people that we sent over, are all dead." Bronze made it perfectly clear for all of them, and as the thoughts and facts sank into the heads of the other two soldiers it was all starting to become perfectly clear.

"I dont think they want those kids to talk, they are cooking up this bullshit story to make people think that they are a threat, they aren't infected guys and their going to kill them!" Price said, making the call that someone higher in rank should have been making.

"Price your talking crazy man, even if its all a lie, theres nothing we can do!" Peyton said.

"thats bullshit Peyton." Price replied. "There is always something people can do."

"Not always, I dont have the points left to go fucking around like that, if your actually talking about what I Think you are, your talking about fucking up the rest of your life, I can't do it man, I just can't." Bronze said, sitting down on the bed, the taste of regret on his tounge.

"So what? We're just gonna stand by and let a couple of innocent kids die because the united states can't admit they screwed up?" The anger in Price's voice was apparent. "I Can't let that fucking happen guys."

"Price listen to yourself! What are you talking about!" Peyton said, stepping into Price's face.

"I'm talking about why I joined up, if I knew I was going to be party to something like this I would have told them to take their 20 grand and shove it up their asses, this isn't me, and I won't let this happen." He said, picking his gun up from the dirt by his bed.

"What are you going to do?" Peyton asked, stepping in front of Price.

"Whatever I have to man, I can't let this happen." The look on Price's face told Peyton everything he needed to know. Peyton shooks his head, stepping out of Price's way. Both Peyton and Bronze knew that what was going on was wrong, crazy even. But there was nothing they could do from where they stood, they were only Privates, and looking forward to a nice long stay in the military, they were thinking about their lives, about the effects that something like that could have on it. They would be court-marshalled, dishonorably discharged, something like that could make you look terrible down the road. But that was all out of the question for Price, he knew those kids weren't infected, just like Peyton and Bronze knew, but he was the only one of them stupid enough to really try and do something about it.

With the pictures of the two suspects in Price's pocket, the rest of the base had no idea that they were holding the HVT's right inside the camp. As patrols started moving out into the country side the helicopters from the airbornes flight division took off into the air, with three men posted on either side, sniper rifles scoping down into the feilds. Price shook his head at the two of them as Peyton sat down on his bunk. He took the sheet of paper out of his pocket and threw it down on the floor at Peyton's feet.

"Maybe in 20 years, you can tell your kids what happened today..." Price said before stepping out the door of the tent.

As the helicopters dissapeared into the horizon Davis breezed back into the tent. Locking his radio into his shoulder holster and grabbing his assault rifle up off the side of the rack. He was just getting back from filing the report from Flynn. He looked around the two men, who right now were still reeling from the talk they had just had with their new squad mate, Davis could tell by the look on the two men's faces that something was wrong.

"What the hell is up guys?" he said. "Wheres the rookie?"

"Boss, what the hell is going on?" The question was something that Davis wasn't ready for, soldiers normally didn't question their orders. Never before had Davis encountered this, the orders were High Alert, and yet here they were, still sitting in their bunks.

"Doesn't matter guys, lets just get moving." Davis replied, trying not to make eye contact with either of them.

"No sir...this time it does...what the fuck is this?" Peyton said, picking up the peice of paper that Price had thrown on the ground. He handed it to Davis, who had obviously not seen it yet, he had the report, but what this said was different. He had been under the impression that the military would try and find a cure for the virus, but looking over this it was apparent that the United States wanted nothing more to do with the virus than to kill it, all of it. He looked at the words printed at the bottom of the paper. There was definately something hitting a chord with Davis as he read it, he crumpled up the sheet in his hand before throwing the newly formed ball of paper onto the ground.

"What the fuck is happening..." He said under his breathe, when he joined the military it was to fight for freedom, to fight for the rights of people the world over. But now here he was, faced with the undeniable truth that the United States was in this for its own protection, and the protection of its friends. They let the United Kingdom Fall, and they would kill a thousand more innocents if they had to.

"Sir, those kids aren't infected..." Peyton said with a sigh. Davis turned his head to the two of them now matching eyes with him. Both of them knew it, Davis knew it, those kids were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Something happened over there sir, something terrible, and they dont want those kids to talk about it." Bronze implied. It was true, Davis had read the full report. He shook his head, considering whether or not to tell them the truth, how would they take it? What would they say? He ran his hands through his hair and turned away from them.

"Sir, what happened over there." Peyton asked, there were a few tense moments were Davis was still hesitant to tell them. But he shook it off, smirking to himself as he nodded his head, turning back to the two men.

"They said they found someone...a woman..." As he explained the two pictured the woman, Alice, running through the woods, becoming infected.

"They said she was immune, but that was quickly taken back, and she was labelled a genetic carrier." His words echoing into the minds of the two men as they pictured what they must have done to her, the washing process, the taking of blood, a woman strapped to a gurney while her children waiting to see her.

"She had two children, a young boy and a teenage Girl, her husband was a section officer in District One, they said that when they found her she was infected. But not showing any of the symptoms, no rage, no anger. They said, she was...completely fine." He Regretably explained.

"The virus broke out, they assume from her, her husband accessed the medical labs, and she infected him. They said that it moved quickly, and within fifteen minutes the entire base had been overrun. They tried locking it down, tried holding up the civilians in a bunker, but as soon as it got to them, it got them all." The two men pictured the soldiers shooting, the infected screaming as frightened people fled. "The two children are presumed dead, killed in the firebombing, the United States instilled a state of eradication. They killed everyone, infected or not, no one made it out of the city alive. The children were presumed dead...but according to my reports, there were only two children ever sent over the channel." As these words are uddered, the facts begin to sink in.

"So what your saying is..." Peyton began.

"Those two kids are the ones that they are looking for, they say they want to find a cure, a Major Ross of the medical department of the United states Army made a report." He remembered what it had said, because it had made alot of sense to him.

"These children are presumed to be extremely valuable, their blood could hold the cure to Infection." He said, nodding his head to the floor.

"They dont want to find that cure bossman..." Peyton muttered. There were a few moments of silence between the three men, Price had been right. Whether or not they wanted to come right out and say it was still in question, but there was definately something wrong with the way the military handled the entire situation. And it was only now that the fact was starting to get to Davis. The entire time he had been in the military he thought that they had been doing the world some good, but now it was all coming so clear. It was something so hard to comprehend for him, so hard to understand. His two companions on the other hand could see it clear as day. And as Davis' head lifted again the two men sitting in front of him nodded their heads. Whatever was about to happen was about to be a big mistake, and they knew it. But none of them could deny the truth, that if they went with their orders on this, they were be walking down the same path that everyone else did, the easy one. The one that ends with the eradication of infected, and the burning of their own souls. They didn't sign up for this, to commit an act of Genocide, to kill children.

Davis choked back the lump in his throat and pulled the hammer back on his assault rifle. He turned to the window, the rain was still pouring down, making the dirt beneath their feet turn into a dark shade of brown, mixing into mud and splashing onto his ankles as the hard rain poured down. He could see the squads of men moving out, the helicopters flying back and forth across the sky. This was the life he loved, he had been accustomed to living like this for the passed however many years it had been for him, it all didn't matter anymore. Because this was something different, these people weren't terrorists, or enemies on a feild of battle, they were victims. And the only thing the military could do for them was to kill them all...then what had they really done? This was the thought that ran through his head, the thought that drove him now. What Had They Really Done? The answer was simple...made it all worse, made everything worse. Davis turned to the men now sitting up on the bunks, their rifles on their laps.

"What you guys thinking?" Davis said, looking back and forth at the two.

"Price was right, like fucking Bob Barker." Bronze said with a smirk on his face.

"The kid said he was going to make a difference, he's going to do it alone. Sir, he's not going to make it if its just him." Peyton said, but Davis already knew this. He looked to the medical center on the other side of the yard. And sure enough Price was right there, taking his first steps through the door of the building. As the doors shut behind him, Davis made the call.

"Lets go, he'll need our help." the two men lock and load as the sprint across the yard against the hard rain. Where they were about to go from here was all a variable. But one thing was for sure, Andy and Tammy weren't going to die...not today.


	4. Andy's Dream

Chapter 4: Andy's Dream

Andy's eyes force their way open. The taste of hours of sleep is fresh in his mouth. His eyes are crusty and dry, it takes him a few moments to really come too, his head is spinning. And his vision is still a little blurry. His head was pounding as his heart pumped blood to the constricted vessels, making his headache seem a thousand times worse. As he blinks, trying to get the vision back, shapes and colours start to make themselves out. And as his vision fades back in, so does the sound of a soft song playing on some radio somewhere. Suddenly he can make out where he is, his room, in London. His posters, paintings and pictures are hanging on the walls, the sun shining in from the open window, the blinds fluttering as the wind passes through. The song is one that his mother used to listen to when she would do housework "Abide With Me" was the name of the song, Andy never really asked who it was by. It was a song that he used to dislike hearing, but now it was somehow comforting. He was dressed in the same clothes he had left london in, but somehow they were clean now. He stood up from the bed and slowly started to make his way through the house, pushing open his door and seeing the empty hallway leading to the stairway. He stepped passed Tammy's room, the door just cracked open, peeking inside he could see that Tammy was nowhere to be found.

The song was getting louder, as if someone was turning up the volume on the record player. He rounded the corner at the stairs and stepped down into the kitchen. Their family pictures spread out across the front of the refrigerator. The one picture he took with him that day was replaced, sitting in the exact spot he had taken it from. He pulled it down softly, looking it over as best he could, but somehow the picture was changed, blurred, his mothers face was smudged over. He folded the picture in half and tucked it into his pocket. He rubs the sleepy sand out of his eyes as he steps into the living room, his father Don is sitting in the chair near the television. As Andy enters the room Don turns to him, his face warm and inviting. That same smile that Andy had grown to love about his father.

"Sleep Good Then did Ya?" He said with that scottish accent that Andy had come accustomed to. Andy nodded his head slowly, he hadn't really come too yet. His head still spinning he sat down on the couch, the smell of perfume had started to fill his nostrils, the smell of his mothers perfume, god it had been so long since he had smelled it. It filled him with a sense of safety, security, in knowing that everything was as it should be. Just as he remembered it. His mother stepped through the doors leading out to the backyard, she carried with her a dirty clothes container and a few clothes that she had taken off the line out in the back yard. When she stepped through the door she set the container on the ground and walked towards Andy, she embraced him, and in that moment Andy felt free. He felt like he used to feel, happy, warm, home.

"How'd You get so Handsome Andrew?" She asked, holding his head up so she could see him. She kissed him on the cheek. It was then that Andy hugged her, tighter than he had ever before, he could feel her, smell her, to him she was real. The music playing softly now in the background, he could feel her soft hair against his cheek, everything was as it should have always been.

"Wheres Tammy Honey?" His father said, not looking up from the television. "She's been gone for almost three hours."

Tammy was always leaving and coming, out and in with her friends. Tammy was always the social one of the two, always the one on the go. While Andy sat at home most of the time, he had friends back in school, but so many kids at his age were constrained by their parents. When Andy did find time to hang with his friends it was usually at his own house, jumping on the trampoline, skateboarding in the front street, or playing video games in his bedroom. His life was just like everyone elses, and when it all came crashing down it was hard for him. He missed Tammy when she would leave, she was always there when he would get nightmares, or when he just felt down about something, she was always the one that could make him feel better, its not Don and Alice were bad parents, sometimes they just didnt understand the way Tammy did. Andy remembered when he would wake up late at night when he was little, crying, and Tammy would lay with him. Running her hands through his hair, and reminding him that no matter what happened all her had to do was open his eyes and she would be there, no matter what.

He shook his head, his mother had begun to step back towards the kitchen now. But as she got farther and farther away his vision started to blur again. And his head started to pound, his father looked at him with a smile on his face, he was asking some sort of question, but Andy couldn't make out the words. As his vision blurred his fathers face changed, the smile fades into a bloody scream, and his eyes filled with such love and warmth turned to dark, red, hateful so terrifying. For a moment he saw his fathers face as clearly as he had back in London, in that parking garage that he had been locked inside of. The first time he saw his father infected, he remembered how hopeless he felt. He remembered how abadoned and alone it made him feel. As the vision of his father blurred so did the setting, the walls of the house started to fade away, dropping off like falling dominoes into a black background. The ceiling began to crack, and peices of it began to fall down onto Andy's head, it was as if the world was being pulled away, broken down. Destroyed by some godlike force.

Andy tried to stand, but as he did the floor at his feet gave way, crumbling around him as if it was made of glass. But as he fell he didn't feel weightless, he didn't feel like he was floating. He felt calm, and sure of himself as he crashed through the floor beneath him. He reached his hand up to grab onto something, but all of a sudden the world he was just in, was gone. And all there was left was blackness. His feet hit the ground, but as he looked there was nothing there, just the same blank, dark abyss that was all around him. Somehow he could see himself, but nothing else, he looked down at his hands that were once clean and had now been stained a shade of blood red. The spots on his shirt and jacket had returned. Timidly he began to take tiny steps out to the front of him. And with that, he began to hear voices, familiar ones.

"How Old Are you Andy?" The question Scarlett had asked him when he first got back to London.

"Twelve." His own voice answering the question. Echoing throughout the emptiness of the abyss. "My Mother...my Mother...my Mother...She Did." his words repeating over and over again, in a sort of tone distortion. His voice went in and out, dropped low and then high.

He blinked his eyes, being met with a flash of light, blinding him. As the light faded he could see the terminal again, he was standing in the center of the long hallway, at the end there was a single soldier standing. Waving his hand in the air as people walked in slow motion passed him. He could move normally, but everyone else was moving sort of slow, he stepped to the end of the hallway. Looking out the window, looking out at the clean-up crews down on the street, bringing bodies out of the houses below. A Soft rumbling started in the back of his head, and as he watched more it only got worse. As the soldiers began bringing bodies out of the houses, Andy could only make out on face, his own. Every single body that was laid out on the street was his, a blank, accusing stare in his eyes, glossed over, pale, lifeless. The breath is taken right out of his lungs, his heart begins to pound and his head begins to throb again. He takes a couple steps back grabbing his chest, feeling his heart about to explode out of his chest. It is then "They" round the corner, Tammy and Andy.

He blinks his eyes to make sure that he's seeing straight, but it is him, walking alongside his sister, holding her hand as they step passed the armed guards in slow motion. Andy steps up behind them, he reaches his hand out, thinking that if he could maybe just warn himself, maybe it all could be avoided. But his hand passes through, molds into his own shoulder, as if only touching water, the alternate Andy's body ripples, and distorts. He turns to see who tapped him on the shoulder, but his image stretches as if being pulled violently into some alternate reality. Part of him keeps walking forward, while the other half meets himself in that hallway, their blue eyes meeting each other. Just as it happens the image fades back, flashing the one half of Alternate Andy back inside himself. Andy takes a couple of steps backwards as Tammy as his alternate self continue down the hallway. There is nothing he can do to stop what is about to happen, and thats whats killing him the most. He folds his hands over his face and rests his back against the wall, slowly sliding down hopelessly into a sitting position against the wall. The shadows of people walking by pass across him, unhindered by his presence.

Tears have now begun to well up in the pits of his eyes, he shakes his head back and forth and rubs the droplets of water from his face. He takes another long look out the window, that day the sun was shining, and a thin layer of clouds had begun to float across the sky. It was beautiful, he remembered how it felt to finally be able to get back to his home, his town, his family. He remembered the feeling of seeing his father for the first time in what had seemed like ages. How happy he was to at least have him, if no one else. He hated thinking that his mother died alone, scared and sad. He closed his eyes again, trying to fight back the feelings that were crashing into his head. The warmth from the sun in the window faded, back to the cold, dry nothing of the darkness. He openned his eyes and thast where he was again, the blackness. He hated this place, it reminded him of those air ducts, he didnt know really where to go or what to do. He began stepping forwards again, trying to find his way out of this place. But then came the voices again, this time of his father, his sister.

"Your Mum and I were Hiding In a House...we were attacked." He remembered the regret in his fathers voice telling that storry about their mother. He remembered never seeing his father really cry like that before, he wished he could have been there, maybe he could have made a difference.

"Was there nothing you could do...?" A soft voice muttered, it was his voice, the voice that echoed through the blank corridors of this reality, only his.

"There was nothing I Could do..." His father's reply.

"We're just happy your still alive...still alive...still alive..." Tammy's voice now plays again and again like a skipping record. Suddenly all the images come crashing back to him, the airplane from the mainland, walking down those hallways. His mother's bloody face, pulling back her skin to reveil his own. He remembered charging through deserted london, riding that mo-ped through the empty city streets where he once played with his friends. He saw his father, that smile that he came to love fading into the terrible murder face that he wore the last time he saw him. He remembers the sound of the bullets ripping passed him as he ran through the street that day. Remembered never having felt so much fear in his life, but somehow pushing through all of it. He remembered the feild, the man in the helicopter. How he refused them then, he could see them all running, Doyle shooting backwards as they ran seemingly in slow motion. He saw Scarlett, the last thing he ever saw from her was her face, full of fear and anger. He remembered his sister, screaming for him, he could hear her voice echoing in the darkness now, just as it had in those subways. He saw before him his father, standing there staring at him with that rage filled look upon his face. He remembered the tackle, the fear that ran through him as his father looked down on him. Then suddenly...the pain.

Andy's scream echoed now, and seemed to get louder as it passed through the emptiness of this place. As if something out there was reflecting it back towards him, or maybe there were a dozen different Andy's experiencing the same thing, whatever it was didn't really matter. Between the sounds echoing in the darkness and the shooting pain now running down the left side of his body Andy couldn't even think straight. His father faded off now, and the darkness collapsed, as if folding over into the distance. And suddenly he was met with that same flash of blinding light, and then the final vision, the picture Scarlett had taken of his eyes, put together to make half brown, half green. As he looked on the color of the white changed, from healthy white to that shade of red, his retnas scarred and yellow lines started to break through the redness of the blood spilling into the whites. He screamed now, feeling the udder helplessness of the entirety of the situation, he was infected, and he could feel it. And suddenly it all came to a stop, the pain, the light, the vision of his own infection that has been present right to his face. And he falls now, his legs finally giving in. He cries now, openly, sobbing into the darkness. Slowly he rests his head against the invisible floor, the tears from his face drop off, as if nothing is there at all, falling into the dark abysmal nothingness.

It is then he feels it, someones arm's wrapping around him. He opens his eyes to meet his Mothers, she brushes his brown hair out of his face and looks deeply into his eyes. His mother, has the same lost look as he does, the same lament, the same tears. She puts her hands gently against his cheeks and presses her forhead against his. He takes her hand as she stands up now, calmly, as if all the worries in the world have been washed away. She points out into the nothing, and as Andy turns to see what it is the bright flash comes back again. Painting the portrait of the city streets of London, it is Mid-morning, and the sun is just now cresting the tops of the buildings. He can hear a siren off in the distance, like the horns of the apocolypse. And he can feel the ground at his feet begin to shake, only slightly, but ever so noticably. His grip on his mother's hand tightens as what must have been a hundred infected came charging around the corner. He tries to turn and run, but his mother only stands, her grip on his hand tightening like a vice. He pulls at her.

"Mum lets go! please!" his voice breaks under his fear as tears begin to pour down his face again. But Alice on the other hand, calmly turns her head to him, her face gently smiling towards her sun. She slowly puts her finger against her lips, and somehow it comforts him. He looks into her eyes, the same bloodshot look that he finds himself with. Suddenly he can feel them, the infected, charging forward in a chaotic manner, he can feel their anger, their pain, their suffering. And suddenly he finds himself not crying for himself, he cries for them. Tears of blood running down both their cheeks now the crowd engulfs them, but instead of ravaging them, they pass them by, as if they weren't there at all. Running around them, Andy can feel them as they hit his shoulder as they pass. He can see their lives, each one that touches him, the place they came from, the people they were. Businessmen, waiters, construction workers, family men, house wives, those Terrific kids the bumper stickers promote. All lost now...lost in Rage. He looks up at his mother, but her gaze is drawn to the horizon. She slowly turns to her son, gripping his hand for one last time before stepping forward, she lets go of his hand now, he tries to step after her but something holds his feet against the the ground.

"The time for sorrow is over Andy...you have to be strong...strong for whats to come...I am gone from you, but I am apart of you...I love you Andrew...your father and I both...you can't look back anymore." Her voice echoes like an angel in his head, her calm face, mouth unmoving, as if projecting the words directly into his head. And even though Andy still finds himself sadness, there is strength in the words his mother has said. She looks at him, as if sad for him, as if scared for him, but through it all, she can only leave him with a smile. As she dissapears into the sun just above the buildings the horizon lifts skyward, bringing a wall of buildings into the sky. A Strong wind takes Andy backwards off his feet, but instead of meeting the hard pavement the blackness engulfes him again, plumeting him downwards. And just like that...its all over.

His eyes spring open now, and have to once again adjust to the light of the room. He can hear the soft sounds of the rain falling onto the roof above his head. The ceiling has been stained a shade of yellow, brown in some areas. As he starts to come too he looks around the room for a few moments. His head is throbbing now, but as he begins to rub his forehead the pain retreats just a little. Enough to where he can at least sit up on the bed. The blood on his hands has been washed off, he can't remember that happening, now can he remember how he got to where he was, or why he was dressed like some sort of in-patient. There was a small pain on his arm, where the needle had peirced his skin. There was a small pool of blood that had run down his arm from the mark, and had formed in the center of his hand. He shook it off and stepped down from the gurney. His legs felt weak, maybe it was from all the running he had done, maybe it was from the stress, or maybe it was because whatever they used to put him under was still having effect, suddenly he remembered, the helicopter, Price and the rest of Delta Squad. The nurses holding him down, and the shot. He clenched his fist, feeling an angst come over him that he hadn't felt before.

The door was locked from the outside, the knob was tight, and peeking through the small separation between the doors was useless. He could only make out the light from the other side, a yellow wall on the other side of the hall. Where had they taken Tammy? He thought to himself, for the first time in a long time, Andy had openned his eyes, and she wasn't there. He looked around the room for anything he could use to get the door open. Flying through cabinets filled with medical equipment, nothing was really usable. The window was barred up from the outside, smashing out the window would only alert the medical personel to the fact that Andy was concious. Helpless, he sat back down on the gurney, but the thought of his sister still hung heavy in the back of his head. What were they doing to her? Was she alright? What did they plan on doing to them? Just some of the thoughts that were rattling around in his head. Frustrated he rested his head in his hands, looking down at the floor with deep regret. Suddenly it hit him, he got the answer he was looking for. Just below where he was sitting was a small crack in the cloor, where the rest of the panelling on the floor was parallell, this was perpendicular. He jumped down from the gurney again, shoving it out of the way. Sure enough, there was a trap door.

Yanking it open presented a cloud of dust, and an empty stairway leading down into darkness. He hesitated momentarily, at first scared, but then he remembered all the feats he had accomplished only a few hours before, the fear he had felt then, made the fear he felt now seem so insignificant. His first steps down were slow, paced, like he wasn't quite sure of himself yet. And as he stepped down, every step seemed to make everything seem darker, blacker. He felt a light touch on his forhead, and at first he jumped, swiping away the spider or whaver it was that had just touched him. But as it passed through his fingers he could feel metal, the beads of a light switch. The light kicked on as Andy pulled the switch downward, reveiling to him the room he had entered. It was a huge room, a storage area for all the stuff that this place had been before it was turned into a medical center. Benches, Chairs, dinner tables, everything that this place was, was now here, as if buried. There was a smell of emptiness in the place, like the smell of their old spare bedroom his grandparents would stay in on visits. Like it hadn't been used in quite some time.

There was a long bar along the one side of the room, and from the looks of things thats what this place used to be, an old bar. The alcohol still lined up behind the counter in front of a huge glass mirror, something written across it was now covered by the four months worth of dust that had covered everything else. The air was still, like it had been for a long time, no wind ever found its way down here. He looked around for any way to get back to the ground level, there must have been a set of stairs somewhere, and just as he thought there, he saw them. The door marked Exit At Your Own Risk on the other side of the room. He pulled the door open but as he did he realized that he couldn't get out this way. There was something pushed over the top of the stairs at the top, as if boarded up by someone. Frustration was setting in, he let out a slight moan as he turned back into the room. He started looking around again, frantically searching for a way out. He couldn't be trapped in here he thought to himself. Then it presented itself! An old transporter shaft, used to get drinks and things to the floors above, just big enough for Andy to crawl into.

As he gripped the rope in the center he could feel another strength begin to come over him, as he pulled the rope his body weight seemed easier to lift. As he reached the first floor, he could hear people conversating on the other side of the hatch. He couldn't come out here, they would grab him and throw him back into the room, give him another shot and it would be back to the crazy darkness of the dream world. He shook his head before pulling himself up another story to the room above. Here there was nothing, he waited for a few moments to make sure someone wasn't just sitting in there filing paperwork or something. He slowly pushed the hatch open, letting the light from outside fill the shaft. He peeked around the corner of the door for a moment, the room was clear, quiet. He locked the elevator in place and stepped out onto the floor.

The floorboards creaked and moaned under his little bit of weight, apparently this place was pretty old, by the looks of it at least 25 years of age had befallen this place. Andy moved towards the door, sliding his bare feet gently across the wood floors, making almost no noise at all. He had to find his sister, but he had no idea where to look. Peeking his head out the door he could see some doctors conversating at the end of the hall, he was the only kid in this place, so getting passed them was going to be rough. He looked around for a moment, trying to search for a way to divert their attention. Then he saw it, just beside where his head was resting against the wall, the fire alarm. Overhead the sprinkler system would no doubt turn on, but either way, its raining outside, Andy thought to himself. He looked back out the door again, making sure they were still there so that he wasn't doing it for nothing. He took a few deep breathes, he knew he had to sprint, find his sister and get out of this place.

The fire alarm blared to life, as a shower of cool water began pouring from the ceiling. As the water began to saturate the hair on the top of his head he peered back into the hallway, nurses and doctors running for the exits, covering their heads with papers and lab coats. Andy moved out into the hallway, virtually dissapearing behind the walls of white coats, just as they had in london the crowds momentum pushed Andy down the stairs. He quickly jumped out of line and pressed himself firmly against the wall. Shuffling sideways towards the corner, he recognized this place, this was where they had brought him in, where they had seperated him and Tammy. He peeked around the corner at the groups of people still making their way out of the building. He moved as quickly as he could into the next room. Finding himself right where Price had found himself earlier, Intelligence. There was now another print-out of the kids faces, something that Andy instantly noticed. The same big red lettering across the bottom of the page. "Eliminate."

Andy's heart dropped into his stomach, the words made him sick. He shook his head back and forth, they were going to kill them, both of them, they didn't even know if they were infected or not. The anger started to build again, the american government had already done too much to the people of England, and now there was this, staring Andy in the face was his own death warrant. He had to find his sister, and fast before the military got hold of this report, chances are they already had it, chances are Tammy was already dead, Andy knocked the thought out of his skull, she couldn't be dead, not now, he didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to her. He knew she was clean, infection free, so why they would kill her was still up in the air. Maybe it was because the Military was covering their own asses he thought, maybe they had seen too much destruction, maybe they didn't want the truth getting out. Whatever the reasoning behind it was, Andy knew that he only had one more shot at keeping the one last family member he had in his life. He nodded his head, and just then, the alarm.

"Prisoner Escape! I Repeat Prisoner Escape! Look Out for A Small Child, A Boy, Age Twelve." The voice over the com-link was clear. Blasting throughout the entire base. He looked to the window, he could see Delta Squad, Peyton, Bronze and Davis making their way across the feild towards the medical center, the rain pouring down on their heads. As he looked around more, it appeared as if they were the only men on the base at the time, in the distance the helicopters were making a turn, and in a few moments they would be right back ontop of them. The soldiers were running up to the front of the building, in almost like a combat formation. Andy didn't know what to expect from these guys, if they were anything like the soldiers back in England, this was going to be tougher than he thought. He had to act fast, find his sister and leave, at least now she knew...he was coming for her. 


End file.
